June 28, 2009
Perl sapnwrfc 0.30
I doing some work for a client recently, I got the opportunity to do some major performance work on sapnwrfc for Perl. The net result is that a number of memory leaks, mainly of Perl values not going out of scope properly, have been fixed.
Additionally, I've had some time to put together a proper cookbook style set of examples in the sapnwrfc-cookbook. These examples, while specifically for Perl, are almost identical for sapnwrfc for Python, Ruby, and PHP too.
Posted by PiersHarding at 7:20 AM
April 26, 2009
Dynamic Weather Map
I had once seen on a colleague of mines Mac, a weather widget of New Zealand, that gave him an animated view of the weather situation as seen by the satellite passing over. I had not been able to find this animation on the Met Service website, and was puzzling over where the data was coming from. Then I realised it was staring me in the face in the Infrared series. So - in a bit of retro shell script coding, using GET, perl, convert, and gifsicle, I built my own 
.
Posted by PiersHarding at 6:29 PM
March 23, 2009
OpenERP and Pentaho
As part of some ongoing investigation work of the potential use of OpenERP, I have had a look into connecting OpenERP with Pentaho. At other times, I have implemented a limited form of Pentaho BI reporting for previous employers, but had mostly confined my activities to using the Metadata reporting object designer, which gives users the ability to create their own simple reports which they can generate as html, pdf, or spreadsheet. This time, I wanted to get to grips with the far more powerful forms of interactive reporting, which meant Mondrian.
It's not easy getting it up and running (need to setup datasources, build Modrian schemas, design MDX queries, and then implement the xaction), but once you are there, there is so much potential. The ability to tune the queries interactively using the Pivot reporting engine, and the drill down features are excellent.
Posted by PiersHarding at 1:36 PM
March 2, 2009
OpenERP
As part of my job at Catalyst I've been part of a process of evaluating Open Source ERP systems. The first one up is OpenERP and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. Having come from a long term SAP background, I'm appreciating the thought that has gone into usability, and intuitiveness of the user experience. Also - big bonus - it's NOT written in Java, but Python!
Having just finished the Order to Cash cycle, and then followed it through on the Financial reporting. and cost account side, I'm finding that there is nothing missing that I would have expected to find from SAP - I'm excited, as I feel that OpenSource may have finally reached prime time in the ERP world.
Next up will be Compiere, which will have to go a long way to win me over I think.
Note: on reflection, I should add that this is in the context of SMB.
Posted by PiersHarding at 8:06 PM
February 16, 2009
Kiwi Foo - BaaCamp 09
It was a real privilege to have been invited to Kiwi Foo 09, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The uniqueness largely stems from the courageous forward thinking attitude of the organisers to give the attendees almost no guidance at all as to what the format is, and the content to cover. The net result is informed conversation across the spectrum of problems and opportunities facing New Zealand, and an environment with huge cross-pollination potential for ideas, and creativity.
So - what did I learn?
I spoke to the man who is developing the fastest car in the world
I learnt about solar powering my house
Where the Geek Community thinks we are headed in the current climate
Network Theory
Perl 5.10, and Perl 6
Section 92A
Software in Education
OpenSource advocacy, and how to go main stream
telecommuting
Programming the G1
Irish folk music
Werewolf
and many more things that escape me right now.
Many thanks to the organisers (Nat, Jenine, and Russell), and also to all the other people who attended and helped out, to make it a truly excellent event.
Posted by PiersHarding at 6:44 PM